Adrift in Paris, asylum seeker Fahim and his dad are in desperate straits. However, their fates are transformed when Fahim is accepted into an elite chess class run by a chess grandmaster.
Leaving Bangladesh to seek a new life in France with his father, Fahim is an understandably angry young boy. His precocious chess talent sets him apart from his peers but he meets his match in the form of Gérard Depardieu ‘s Sylvain Charpentier.
Fahim must learn to overcome his emotions to succeed at the game. Meanwhile his father is battling to keep them in France in the face of bureaucratic indifference. The film reveals a world of compassion, cooperation, generosity, and goodwill beneath the surface world of rules, limitations, and government. Based on a true story this is an uplifting tale for shortening days.